{"id":18387,"date":"2026-01-29T21:31:47","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T21:31:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/shapiro-dodges-on-endorsing-fetterman-if-he-runs-for-reelection\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T21:31:47","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T21:31:47","slug":"shapiro-dodges-on-endorsing-fetterman-if-he-runs-for-reelection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/shapiro-dodges-on-endorsing-fetterman-if-he-runs-for-reelection\/","title":{"rendered":"Shapiro dodges on endorsing Fetterman if he runs for reelection"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro on Thursday declined to say whether he would support Sen. John Fetterman if he runs for reelection in 2028, the latest twist in a fraught relationship between Pennnsylvania\u2019s two most prominent Democrats.<\/p>\n

\u201cJohn will decide if he\u2019s going to run for reelection. I appreciate his service,\u201d Shapiro said before quickly pivoting, when asked whether Fetterman is \u201csomeone that you admire and would support for reelection\u201d at a Christian Science Monitor press event in Washington.<\/p>\n

Asked point-blank whether he liked Fetterman, Shapiro replied: \u201cOf course. And we all work together to do good things for the people of Pennsylvania.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fetterman has not yet said whether he will seek reelection in 2028. But progressives are already plotting a primary challenge<\/u><\/a> to him over his centrist congressional voting record that\u2019s seen him cross party lines to support some of President Donald Trump\u2019s Cabinet picks, give full-throated support for Israel and repeatedly buck Democrats during shutdown fights.<\/p>\n

The relationship between the top Pennsylvania Democrats and stylistic opposites has long been strained, though Fetterman has been much more public about his disdain for Shapiro than the other direction.<\/p>\n

Fetterman, in his 2025 memoir, criticized Shapiro for acting out of \u201cpolitical ambition\u201d and wrote that he was caught on a hot mic<\/u><\/a> calling Shapiro a \u201cfucking asshole\u201d during a Zoom meeting while serving together on the state\u2019s pardon board. Fetterman wrote he wished Shapiro the best \u2014 but claimed the two \u201cno longer speak.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shapiro refuted that Thursday, saying \u201cyes\u201d the two are on speaking terms, adding that they were in a meeting together with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy \u201ca few weeks ago \u2026 working on an important issue in Pennsylvania.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shapiro makes just two mentions of Fetterman in his own memoir, \u201cWhere We Keep the Light: Stories from a Life of Service,\u201d which was released this week \u2014 both just passing mentions of the two being at the same political events. He notes the two spoke backstage at an Erie Democratic dinner days before Fetterman\u2019s stroke.<\/p>\n

A representative for Fetterman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro on Thursday declined to say whether he would support Sen. John Fetterman if he runs for reelection in 2028, the latest twist in a fraught relationship between Pennnsylvania\u2019s two most prominent Democrats. \u201cJohn will decide if he\u2019s going to run for reelection. I appreciate his service,\u201d Shapiro said before quickly pivoting, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18387\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}